Time's Course
by Moosashi
Summary: Saving the world twice was a cinch for Jaden Yuki, but taking a test wasn't so easy. He figured avoiding the test by skipping class was the best solution, but little did he know that doing so would thrust him into even worse woes. As he stares down the dueling field at his opponent who holds a mysterious golden pocket watch, he wonders how these odd characters always find him.


A.N. After finishing the entirety of Yu-Gi-Oh GX, I decided to write a story with the characters. This takes place between seasons two and three, and while the first chapter doesn't incorporate many characters, do not fret, for the others will definitely be joining in! Without further ado, please enjoy!

* * *

"Where is Jaden Yuki?!"

Crowler's outburst was accompanied by the harsh pounding of his palms on his desk as he glared at the classroom. It shouldn't have surprised him that the boy in question was missing from class, as he always was, but since it was a day containing an important test, the teacher was fuming more than usual. The boy may have been responsible enough to save the world twice, yet he was irresponsible enough to skip class day-in and day-out.

"Oh man, skipping class again?" Syrus gave a sigh as he remembered his best friend promising not to skip Crowler's class today. "What is Jaden thinking?"

The muscular teen next to him simply flashed a grin. "The Sarge has a mind of his own. Best to not think too hard about what goes on in his head."

Sighing again, Syrus simply nodded in agreement with Hassleberry.

Pounding his palms onto the desk again caused most of the class to jolt; Crowler was beyond angry. "Does anyone know where Jaden Yuki is?!"

No reply came from the class, but one student stood from her seat. "If I may, I will go look for him, Doctor Crowler."

Crowler fell back into his seat and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. The navy-blue-haired girl offered a good opportunity—one that would save him the trouble of having to go look for the boy himself. Normally he would not give the boy a second chance, but bringing back the Obelisk Blue dorm was sufficient enough to warrant one. "Yes, go do that, Blair."

Blair nodded confidently before making her way out of the classroom with a slightly hastened pace. Upon exiting the room, she broke into a run, and heard Crowler yelling at the rest of the students, telling them to get back to their test. A smile was on her face while she ran, which came from two reasons. The first was that she was allowed to skip class to go find Jaden, and ultimately spend time with him. The second was that she hadn't studied at all for that test. She figured if she dragged out the task of bringing Jaden to class, she would be allowed to take it at a later time—after she crammed for it.

Knowing Jaden rather well, and because he had to be alone as all his friends were currently taking Crowler's test, Blair concluded that there were only two places the boy could be. He was either snoozing in his bed or sitting at the pier with a fishing rod in his hands. The pier would be her first stop and her last, for as luck would have it, she spotted a brunet boy in a red jacket sitting at the edge of the pier. She immediately called out to him, "Jaden~!"

His head turned to her, a shocked expression on his face; his attention instantly turned away from her, and he yanked the rod in his hands, frantically spinning the reel. A big frown overtook his lips, but his disappointment was probably nothing compared to that of the plump orange cat lying lazily next to him.

Blair stopped behind him and she let her hands rest on her knees as she caught her breath. "Jaden," she called his name again, "What are you doing fishing?"

The boy set the fishing rod on the pavement next to him. "Pharaoh's hungry."

Blair's hands went from her knees to her hips. He wasn't looking, but she gave him a stern look anyways. "That cat can wait. Don't you know you're missing Crowler's big test?"

He laughed nervously in response, pondering aloud, "Can't I just duel him instead?"

"No."

"But I'm no good with tests. Aw man."

She had half a mind to just grab him by the arm and drag him away, but decided against it as that would be characteristic of Alexis. Besides, she wanted to drag this thing out. She sat next to him and let her legs dangle over the side of the pier. "That's okay." She assured him.

"Glad someone accepts that." He replied, inadvertently mocking himself.

"You're you. I'll always accept everything about you." She replied cheerfully while beaming at him. When he returned the smile, she suddenly averted her gaze, her face heating up. She hadn't meant to say something like that; she blamed his infectious aura of honesty.

He stood up. "I guess I can't avoid the test forever." He stated with growing confidence that shattered in an instant. "Oh man, I'm going to bomb this thing!" He dragged his feet as he began walking towards the academy.

"Hold on!" She called to him, standing up and pointing towards the forest. "Let's uh," she was trying to come up with a suitable excuse to keep them from going to class too quickly, "Go back to your room and get your book." She added enthusiasm to her voice, "Yeah! Then we can get in a last minute review while we walk to class!"

Jaden had halted in his tracks and his slumped shoulders returned to their normal position. He whirled around with a cheery smile. "That's a great idea, Blair!" It would seem their reluctance to return to class was mutual.

The two cut through the forest to get back to the Slifer Red dorm. They could have taken the paved path, but that would have been much faster. Jaden broke the silence that had ensued. "So, you've seen the test already, right?" His voice was hesitant and filled with caution.

To his surprise, she replied seemingly without suspicion. "Yes. It's rather difficult actually. I'd be surprised if anyone passed it, even Bastion."

Jaden was crying inside his head. "Even Bastion?!" He repeated in a panic. "Oh man!"

Blair gazed at him apologetically. She concluded that she should have kept that bit of information to herself.

"Huh?"

Jaden had suddenly stopped, his eyes locked intensely on something ahead of him. Her gaze followed his.

"Jaden Yuki."

The words came from a tall man that caught both of the students' attention. Draped in silver garments from head to toe, the man rested his hands atop a sapphire-crested cane consisting of the same silver color. The only exposed skin was his face, and it was a pale white along with the few locks of hair visible from beneath his hood. On the bridge of his nose rested thinly-framed glasses.

"I've not seen you around before. Are you a new student?" Jaden asked bluntly with curiosity. He suddenly snapped his fingers in realization and pointed at the man. "Hey, you know the white dorm is gone, don't you?"

The man chuckled. "You really are as dense as they say."

Blair fumed. "What kind of thing is that to say?"

Jaden, however, simply chuckled and scratched his cheek. "He has a point." His joking demeanor subsided in an instant and was replaced by seriousness. "Who are you?"

The man drew back his cloak, revealing a custom silver duel-disk. "A servant of time."

Jaden didn't quite understand what the man was saying, but he understood fully what readying a duel-disk meant. His finger went to his waist and he flicked open the small deck cartridge. "A duelist! Now you're speaking my language!" Much to his dismay, however, he had no duel-disk.

"Jaden, we don't—" Blair stopped herself. She wanted to say that they didn't have time for this, but she certainly wanted to stall, and what better way to do that then with a duel? She dug through her backpack and held her duel-disk out to him. "Show him who's number one!" She cheered.

Nodding, he gladly took the duel-disk and shoved his deck into it. "You bet." He activated it and stood at the ready. "Get your game on!"

The man made no effort to reply and instead drew six cards from his deck and then placed one facedown. "Turn end."

"Is that it? Well, if you say so. My turn!" Jaden drew a card from his deck and added it to his hand: Bubbleman, Clayman, Sparkman, Bubble-Blaster, Hero Barrier, and Polymerization. He smirked and began his offensive. "I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman in Attack Mode!" With his words, the blue-armored hero burst onto the field. "When Bubbleman is summoned and the only monster on my field, I get to draw two cards!" He did so: Necroshade and Instant Neo Space. "But that's not all!" He held out his Bubble-Blaster card for his opponent to see. "I use the Equip Spell Bubble-Blaster to give my hero eight-hundred more Attack Points! And then I summon Sparkman! Now, Bubbleman, attack him directly!"

As Bubbleman began his assault, Sparkman appeared on the field with a flashy display of electricity. The silver-garbed man seemed unimpressed, and with one hand in front of him, raised his index finger. "I activate my Trap Card, 'Negate Attack.'"

Jaden frowned, knowing his battle phase was ended because of that trap; his Bubbleman's blaster attack was blocked by a purple energy field. "Using that on the first turn? What fun is that?"

"Fun is not my aim." His opponent replied while drawing a card from his deck. He examined his hand of cards only for a moment before summoning one. "Dimensional Caecilian, Attack Mode."

Blair and Jaden were both confused, the latter of which voiced their shared concern. "Dimensional what? What kind of card is that?" For him, however, the concern was short-lived for he noticed the white worm-like creature only had a thousand Attack Points. "Oh well, it's no match for either of my heroes!"

"Dimensional Tear."

His opponent stated the words as the edge of his duel-disk slid out the card space for field cards, and upon it he placed one. Instantly the field changed, a blackness consuming everything with little white specks spread throughout.

"A space field card!" Jaden exclaimed. "That's so cool! I've got one in my deck too. Of course, it's much cooler than this one." He smugly stated with his finger rubbing beneath his nose. As he finished his statement, the space field tore down the center and an eerie green light poured from it, giving the field an almost ghoulish look.

"I don't like the looks of this…" Blair murmured in concern with a hand at her chest.

"Dimensional Caecilian, attack Bubbleman."

"But he has sixteen-hundred Attack Points!" Blair shouted, her concern subsiding due to the man's apparent stupidity.

"Blair's right! But if you want to—"

Jaden's gasp cut his own statement short as Bubbleman took a hit and the Dimensional Caecilian monster returned to its side of the field unscathed. Bubble-Blaster shattered.

"Dimensional Tear allows my Time Monsters to destroy any creature whose original Attack Points are less than their own." The silver-garbed man explained straightforwardly while placing a card facedown. "Turn end."

"Well, Bubble-Blaster has an effect of its own! You see, when Bubbleman is equipped—"

"I know." His opponent cut him off.

The cold stare from gray eyes he was receiving from his opponent unsettled Jaden. "Jeez, all right. Don't have to interrupt me." He drew a card from his deck: Thunder Giant. He held out two cards and explained, "I play the Spell Card Polymerization and use it to fuse my Sparkman on the field with the Clayman in my hand," the Sparkman on his field leaped into the sky where a large black cloud blotted him from sight, "To form the Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!" Coming down from the cloud was a large brute of a golem with lightning surging through him.

"Yes!" Blair cheered.

"And Thunder Giant has a sweet ability too! Almost like your field card, Thunder Giant can destroy one monster with fewer Attack Points the moment he's summoned. Go, Thunder Giant, destroy his Dimensional...whatever that thing is!" The golem obeyed its master, its hand held out and a surge of thunder bursting forth from it, shocking and destroying the strange worm-like creature on the opponent's side. Jaden fist pumped. "And the best part is he still gets to attack! Now, attack him directly!"

The man lifted his finger again like last time, activating his trap. "Trap Card, 'Worm Hole.'" From in front of him, another tear in space occurred and consumed the surge of electrical energy.

Blair gasped. "What just happened?"

Gritting his teeth, Jaden agreed. "Yeah, spill the beans, bro!"

"As you wish." The man replied, lowering his finger. "Worm Hole takes an attack and sends it into the future."

"The future?" Jaden repeated with a gasp.

"In precisely five full turns the attack will return in present form. Even if I have monsters on the field, it will be a direct attack and no other trap or spell cards may affect it." The man remained calm throughout his explanation.

Smirking, Jaden exclaimed, "Well all right! I can live with that. Now, Bubbleman, attack him directly!" His opponent took eight-hundred points of damage as Bubbleman blasted him, albeit he did not flinch. "I'll throw down a facedown and call it a turn."

The other man drew a card. "Your giant's attack matters not, for it shall not have happened." He added the card to his hand and summoned two more Dimensional Caecilians onto the field, of which one he used to attack and destroy Bubbleman. After the two-hundred points of damage were dealt to Jaden, the man sacrificed both of his Dimensional Caecilians. On the field appeared a silver-garbed man with a large sapphire-tipped staff, parts of his garment plated with armor; his Attack Points equaled twenty-three hundred.

"Whoa, what is that?" Jaden pondered aloud in admiration. He couldn't get over how cool it looked.

"Time Keeper." His opponent replied with a hint of amusement. "Attack his Sparkman."

"Did he just say—?"

"But Sparkman isn't on the field anymore!"

Blair had been the first to react, but Jaden's surprised voice drowned hers out. Both of them watched with wide eyes as the field of play began to distort; the Thunder Giant became translucent and on the same spot a solidified Sparkman could be seen.

Through gritting teeth, Jaden declared his facedown card, "Go, Hero Barrier!"

The Time Keeper came down from the air, his jewel-tipped staff crashing down onto the head of the hero, destroying it; Jaden took seven hundred points of damage and the Time Keeper leaped back to its side of the field. On top of all this, the Thunder Giant vanished from play and the Dimensional Caecilian previously destroyed by it reappeared.

"What just happened?!" Jaden demanded.

"I played Time Keeper's special ability. It allows him to travel back in time one turn, thus reverting the field of play to how it was at the beginning of one turn ago for the duration of his attack. This makes your Hero Barrier null, as it wasn't on the field one turn ago." His opponent explained with his tone once again straightforward. "The history of this duel has been rewritten. Since Sparkman was effectively destroyed before Thunder Giant was formed, he never destroyed my Dimensional Caecilian, whom will now attack you directly."

"What?!"

Jaden braced himself for the hit, and when it came his Life Points dropped to twenty-eight hundred. When he opened his eyes he saw a facedown card appear on his opponent's field, yet his opponent hadn't played one.

"Turn end."

Jaden shot a finger at his opponent. "Where'd that facedown come from?"

"Thunder Giant never existed, therefore he never attacked me nor did I ever activate my Worm Hole trap."

With a lopsided expression, Jaden sighed. "Talk about one powerful special ability…" He drew a card from his deck. "…But it's way cool!"

"You can beat this guy, right, Jaden?" Blair asked with waning belief.

Her friend turned to her and nodded confidently. "You bet! A duel's not over 'til the last card is played!" Turning back to the duel, he put the card he just drew as a facedown. He was surprised to see Clayman, Polymerization, and Thunder Giant in his hand once again. "That's all for me."

His opponent made no comment on the turn and instead drew a card from his deck. "Pot of Greed" He drew two cards and then, "Dimensional Caecilian, Attack Mode."

Jaden chuckled dryly. "How many of those do you have in your deck, bud?"

It would seem the other man had no interest in humor, however. All three of his monsters began to sparkle as they vanished from the field. "I sacrifice all three to summon Time Lord." From an eerie rift that formed, much like the one in the center of the field albeit smaller, sprung a silver-armored behemoth of a man wielding two similar sapphire-tipped staves. "Time Lord inherits the abilities of Time Keeper, and has three-thousand Attack Points."

"Uh-oh, that's not good." Jaden nervously admitted.

"I activate a spell, 'Time of Decision.' This card forces you to send half of your hand to the graveyard, the number rounded up. Since you have five cards in your hand, you must discard three. And now, Time Lord, attack him directly."

"Directly, huh?" Jaden repeated while discarding Thunder Giant, Necroshade, and Clayman. "That must mean you're not using his special ability!" He awaited some kind of response from his opponent, but received nothing but a cold stare. "In that case, I play my facedown card! It's one you should remember clearly!" His facedown rose, and it was revealed to be Negate Attack. Much like the first turn of the duel, the purple field appeared again, only this time on the opposite side. Time Lord's double staves came crashing down onto the energy field, but failed to break through.

"Turn end."

After a sigh of relief, Jaden placed his hand atop his deck, "Here goes something…" and drew a card. He smirked. "I play Pot of Greed!" Again his hand went to his deck. "So I draw two more cards!" He looked at them and his smirk turned into a triumphant smile. "Since you helped me send Necroshade to the graveyard on your turn, I can summon any Elemental Hero one time without sacrifice." He placed his choice on the duel-disk along with a second card, and smiling, announced, "Say 'hello' to the ace of my deck, Elemental Hero Neos! And coming onto the field with him, his trusty side-kick, Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab!"

Neos made his grand entrance onto the field, giving a battle-cry to boot. Flare Scarab, however, looked over his shoulder at his owner with annoyance. "'Side-kick,' you say?"

Jaden scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "Sorry, got caught up in the moment." After regaining his composure, he extended his palm towards the field. "Now, Neos, Flare Scarab, contact fusion!" The two flew up into the sky at high speeds until they were nearly out of sight. A blinding light shone from the sky, and coming down from it was a black and crimson monster that resembled the figure of Neos. Jaden enthusiastically continued, "Welcome Elemental Hero, Flare Neos! And he has a sweet ability too! He gains four hundred Attack Points for every spell or trap on the field. With one facedown card on each of our fields and your Dimensional Tear field card, that's a bonus of twelve-hundred Attack Points, giving my hero a grand total of thirty-seven hundred!" He placed another card, "And I equip him with Instant Neo Space! Now, Attack his Time Lord!"

His opponent seemed unworried about the oncoming attack that outmatched his Time Lord; this unnerved Jaden, causing a bead of sweat to roll down his face to his chin. Nevertheless, he held confidence, until the field distorted and his Flare Neos vanished from play. A few seconds later his hero reappeared on his side of the field.

"Why is his Time Lord still there?" Blair questioned, her fingers interlocked at her mouth as if she were praying. There was something sinister about this man and this duel, and she worried for her friend.

"And what happened to Flare Neos?" Jaden added in alarm. He gave a low growl knowing some sort of special ability had to be the cause of this.

His opponent explained in his straightforward voice, "Time Lord has a second special ability. Much like his ability to go back in time one turn during offense, he can do the same for defense. In other words, he can't be destroyed by any monster that hasn't been on the field for at least two turns."

"Oh no…" Blair murmured nervously. She decided to try and give her friend morale support by cheering, "Jaden, you can do this!" She watched him glance at his facedown card. It was Hero Barrier, and she knew exactly what he was thinking: as long as he had that card, he had a good chance of making it through his opponent's turn with Flare Neos still on the field. Her eyes left his side of the field and went to the silver-garbed man's side; he still had that Worm Hole trap card, so he too was safe from an attack for one turn. Her eyes drifted back to her friend as he announced the end of his turn.

The silver-garbed man drew, and after a quick examination of the card that was the only one now in his hand, equipped it to his Time Lord—a large, tri-bladed weapon, much like a windmill. "Heavy Storm Blade. Now, I activate Time Lord's special ability and attack you directly. Goodbye, Jaden Yuki."

Jaden stumbled backwards. "What, no way!"

The field distorted and Flare Neos vanished from play as Time Lord went back in time one turn. Heavy Storm Blade destroyed Jaden's facedown Hero Barrier as well as his past turn's facedown card Negate Attack that had reappeared, preventing him from playing either and reducing the number of cards on his field to zero. The Time Lord came crashing down onto him with a staff in one hand and the blade in the other hand; he gave out a shrill cry as his Life Points were reduced to nothing, and then everything on the field vanished.

Blair was immediately at his side as he fell to his knees. "Jaden, oh no! Are you all right?"

He didn't respond right away. The ground he was staring at was blurry. "I'm fine." He lied, a lightheadedness overtaking him; he collapsed into her arms.

She turned with anger towards the silver-garbed man who was now dangling a solid gold pocket watch by its chain. "What did you do to him?!"

"Time is calling for the erasure of your existence, Jaden Yuki." The words of the strange man seemingly gave life to the watch, the cover of it flipping open as if it had a will of its own. On the inside it looked like any other watch—a white background, three variant clock hands—except the hands were moving in reverse.

Her arms tightened around her friend. She could protect him from this insane man—no, she _would_ protect him from this insane man; but despite her solid determination, she felt her hold on him weakening. When she looked to see why, horror and panic coursed through her.

He was glowing, tiny orbs of golden light dissipating into the air as they rose from his body.

"Jaden!" She tried to shake him, but at that moment her arms fell through his now translucent body. "What are you doing to him? Please, stop!"

Her cries went unanswered, and instead the boy who was nearly gone whispered, "Hurry, get out of here…"

And then he was completely gone, his body having burst into a plethora of tiny glowing orbs. She swallowed hard as she stared wide-eyed at the empty space in her arms. Only one thing kept shouting at her from her mind, but she refused to accept it as truth. There was no way Jaden could be…

Interrupting her panicked thought was the fast movement of the glowing orbs. Her eyes were quick to follow them as they were sucked towards the silver-garbed man—towards his dangling watch; they each sank into it, and as the final one did, the cover of the watch clasped down by itself.

The man slowly brought the watch to his pocket and then slipped it into it, out of sight. "And now time may resume its destined course." With a flick of his cloak, he turned and began walking away.

Blair stood up shakily, scooping up the fallen duel-disk as she did. "Give him back!"

The man halted, and over his shoulder he looked at her without remorse. "If you simply wait, you will forget and worry for him no more."

She shoved her arm into the duel-disk and glared at the man with fiery determination. At first, a whisper, "Never, no way would I ever," and then an explosion of passion, "Forget about Jaden!"

The man's eyes narrowed as he turned his entire body to face her. "You are making a big mistake."

His warning didn't even graze her—she readied the duel-disk, shoving her own deck into it after tenderly removing Jaden's and placing it in her deck cartridge. "I'm getting Jaden back. So get ready!"

Shaking his head, the man refused to reveal his duel-disk to her. "Your feelings for him are honorable, but know that there is no place for you two as one in time's course."

Her brow quivered at his words. They stung, but she did her best to shake them off. This was no time to let her personal feelings cloud her judgment. "Above all else, Jaden is my friend! I'll never turn my back on a friend in need!" Her confidence flared, and she spat out, "Nobody can see the future, anyways!"

A single, dry chuckle escaped the man's throat. "How wrong you are. Seeing the future was the forte of my master's previous host." He drew back his cloak and revealed his custom duel-disk. "In admiration of your bravery, I'll remove you from time's unforgiving course and grant you what you desire most."

Drawing six cards from her deck, she placed one onto the duel-disk. As her monster materialized onto the field, she whispered confidently, "Don't worry, Jaden, I'll save you."

* * *

A.N. Let me tell you, writing a duel is pretty darn difficult. I hadn't thought it would be, but with all those little details to keep track of, it gets to be headache-inducing! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on it! I won't leave a date of when this will be updated since I am terrible at meeting my own deadlines.


End file.
